I am suspicious that avoiding contagion may not be the only motive in urging people to avoid cash.
exactly.
In my neighborhood, the cash only stores are proliferating like crazy. Two of them as pastry shops ...we buy our pastries and sit down to eat. invariably one of us decides we have to have another pastry....which means pulling out the credit card again.
BTW, thankfully, the new Apple Card is super easy and fast to use.